


That's What We're Here For

by littlemissy106



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Sickfic, sick!zayn, zayn centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-12-20 15:39:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/888945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemissy106/pseuds/littlemissy106
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Can you write a prompt where Zayn gets some kind of flu bug, but he just kinda has to work through the day feeling sick and crappy but the other boys make him feel better? Thank you :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	That's What We're Here For

Zayn groaned and stretched in the sheets, wincing as his tense muscles ached at the movement. He clenched his eyes shut tightly against the morning light that streamed through the window on the far side of the hotel room and spread his arms out, clenching his hands in the thick sheets. 

His eyes cracked open when he heard padded socks brushing across the carpet floor of the room.

“Morning! Liam sent me to make sure that you were up for the interview we have in an hour.” Niall greeted the sleepy boy who stared at him with half open eyes.

Zayn just yawned in response and reached an arm out to snag Niall’s waist, pulling the smaller boy down onto the bed with him.

“Five more minutes,” he whined, burying his face in the pillow and squeezing the blonde’s wriggling body closer. 

“Zee – “

Niall’s fond reprimand was cut short as a throaty cough burbled from Zayn’s throat and made his back shake sharply. Immediately Niall lifted a hand and rubbed it in soothing circles along the black-haired boy’s back. When Zayn looked back up, curling his body so that he lay on his side facing Niall, the younger boy softly ran a hand through Zayn’s hair and asked, “You feeling all right?”

Zayn sighed in response and stiffly rolled to his feet and out of bed. “M’fine Nialler. I’ll be out in a bit.”

Niall watched the older boy concernedly for a moment before nodding in response. “K, if you’re sure. I’ll let the other lads know. See you in a bit.”  
As Niall walked out of the room Zayn rubbed his forehead roughly, trying to force back the ache that was settling behind his eyes.

Today was going to be a long day.

\-----------------------------------------------

Twenty minutes later Zayn staggered into the hotel lobby dressed in a pair of baggy jeans and a soft grey t-shirt. He wandered over to where the rest of the boys and Paul were standing near the entrance, smothering a yawn behind a hand as he came to a stop beside Liam.

The brunette turned to him with a smile, nudging the older boy with his hip until he got a smile in response, and offering a low, “Good morning!”

Zayn only grunted in response. Liam laughed at Zayn’s typical early morning attitude and held up a brown pastry bag and a coffee cup, offering them to Zayn.

The still half asleep boy took them, peeking in the bag to find a cream cheese bagel and sniffing the cup suspiciously to determine what was in it.

“Black tea with honey,” Liam offered. “Niall mentioned that you had a cough and I thought it might help. Normally I’d use lemon ginger tea, but black was the only thing the hotel had.”

Zayn looked up with a fond expression, eyes melting like caramel as he silently thanked the younger boy. 

Liam just smiled gently in return and turned back to listen to what Paul was saying, unconsciously shuffling a little closer to Zayn in the process so that his warmth cascaded over Zayn’s skin.

Zayn leaned into Liam and tuned Paul out, trusting the other boy’s to listen to their bodyguard’s words of wisdom and to keep him out of trouble.

\--------------------------------------------------------

“And cut!” Zayn sighed in relief as the cameras turned off and the stage lights dimmed. 

The sweat that had collected on his skin and in the collar of his shirt from the heat of the overhead lights cooled as he stepped off of the stage and he shivered reflexively from the chill.

A hand rubbed his arm briskly and he startled, breaking out of his thoughts and glancing up into green eyes that were currently crinkled in concern. 

“You cold?” The younger boy asked quietly, eyes dripping worry as he took in the sweat that dampened the fringes of Zayn’s hair and the glassy sheen that had slid over the normally sharp, perceptive eyes.

Zayn sighed at the question and answered with a soft hum of confirmation, not trusting his voice because of the rough bur that had crept into his words as the interview had progressed. The back of his throat felt slick and prickly at the same time and he quietly cleared his throat, trying to hide a wince as the brief movement sent a wave of aching pain through his head.

Harry silently observed the wince and without a word he slid off the jacket that he had on and settled it over the older boy’s shoulders.

Zayn looked up in surprise as he felt the warm weight of the coat settling on his back. “Haz come on. I’m fine. I don’t need your coat, you’ll get cold!”

Harry just waved him off and offered him a lopsided grin complete with dimples before grabbing his hand and pulling him off to go join the rest of the boys in waiting for the car to take them to the next interview.

Zayn smiled and pulled the coat tighter around his frame, inhaling the scent of pine and cinnamon that always seemed to cling to the youngest band member as he stumbled after the enthusiastic boy.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

“Where the hell is Louis,” Paul thundered, looking around the room where the other four band mates were hanging out waiting for the start of the next interview. 

It was five minutes until they were supposed to be on stage again and their bodyguard looked like he would be pulling out his hair if he had any. 

Liam, Niall, and Harry just shrugged in response, while Zayn didn’t bother to respond from where he was curled up in one of the chairs, eyes closed and hands buried in Harry’s coat, which he was using like a blanket.

Paul groaned loudly and was just turning around to do another loop around the building to try and find his troublemaking young charge when said charge came stumbling into the room with flushed cheeks and a soda in his hand.

“Sorry Paulie!” Louis chirped, brushing past the burly man and heading straight for his black-haired band mate.

Paul just huffed in amused irritation and snapped out a brisk, “Five minutes,” before turning and stepping out of the room.

“Scooch over Zaynie.”

Zayn cracked his eyes open in irritation at his band mates voice and at the insistent finger that was poking his cheek. He snorted and sent a mock glare at Louis before sitting up and moving so that Louis could perch on the arm of his chair.

In response to the glare Louis stuck out his tongue before holding out the bottle of Sprite in his hand and rummaging in his pocket with the other hand. “Here, gotta keep our pretty boy hydrated.”

Zayn unwrapped himself slightly from his coat blanket and reached out to accept the bottle, to enamored with the idea of the cold sugary drink soothing his throat to put up a fuss about Louis’ chosen pseudo-endearment.

“And these are for the headache,” Louis continued, pulling out a bottle of ibuprofen from his pocket and shaking out two bright orange pills, offering them to Zayn on the palm of his hand.

Zayn blinked in shock for a moment before raising an eyebrow and asking, “How did you – “

“You were squinting in the light at the last interview. You only do that when you have a headache,” Louis interrupted, impatiently grabbing Zayn’s hand and depositing the pills into his palm.

“Thanks mate,” Zayn responded smiling softly before popping the pills into his mouth and swallowing them with a mouthful of soda. 

He nearly moaned in relief as the sugary drink soothed his sore throat and five minutes later when they were ushered into the bright stage lights and his headache stayed at a low background hum he couldn’t help but give Louis’ hand a sly squeeze, to which Louis replied with a cheeky wink, and a gentle squeeze back.

\-------------------------------------------------

By the time that they we were finished with the interview and climbing into the car to head to the recording studio Zayn was running on the last grams of sugar from the Sprite that he had finished off before the interview was halfway over. 

He focused on the warm car that waited them as they were lead through the crowds of screaming girls and fought off the temptation to cover his ears against the blistering noise that surrounded him.

He could feel a warm body behind him, guiding him and encouraging him forward with a hand on the small of his back when he started to lag behind the rest of the group.

Finally he made it to the car and started to climb in, stumbling in weariness as he misjudged the height of the car that he had gotten in a thousand times before. Instantly a pair of hands reached out and grabbed his waist, steadying him and guiding him into the dark car.

It was only when he climbed into the backseat that he turned around to find Niall right behind with his hands outstretched, prepared to help steady Zayn if he needed it again.

He smiled wearily at the blonde and received a small smile in return. 

Niall settled down in the chair next to him and tugged on him until Zayn was resting against his shoulder.

The blode ran a hand through the older boy’s black bangs and Zayn snorted, shaking his head as he felt the younger boy’s hand hovering on his forehead, trying to check his temperature. 

“You want to call it a day Zee? You feel pretty warm, maybe you should just head home and skip the recording for today,” Niall suggested, catching the attention of the other three boys as the car started up and pulled out of the parking lot smoothly.

“I’ll be fine. ‘ts just a couple of hours and then I’ll take it easy tonight,” Zayn promised, coughing wetly before settling back against Niall’s warm shoulder.

Niall shared a look with his other three band mates and read the same reluctance on all of their faces, but before he could insist that they take Zayn home the older boy opened his eyes and tried to glare at his friends.

“Don’t even think about it,” Zayn warned, ignoring the warm fluttering that filled his body at the concern that he found reflected in each of his band mates faces.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Zayn, hey Zaynie, you gonna wake up for us?” A voice called while a hand shook his shoulder.

He frowned in irritation and slowly cracked his eyes open. Suddenly the hand left his shoulder and there was a shuffling and mumbling before a pair of arms slid under his back and knees and swept him up in the air.

Of course that woke him up and he let out an indignant squawk that ended in a slurred, “’Da fuck?”

“Just go back to sleep Zayn,” Liam’s voice hushed him, making the black-haired boy fully open his eyes and looked around to find himself being carried by Liam out of the waiting room in the recording studio.

“Do I look like a bride?” he asked indignantly, blushing at the idea of being carried around like a damsel in distress.

Liam huffed a laugh, but didn’t pause in his course for the door as he answered. “No. You like someone who is sick, and who has a fever by the way, we checked while you were asleep, and who fell asleep the minute he laid down on the couch.”

Zayn huffed, giving up the idea of staying at the studio, but wriggling in Liam’s grasp, determined to at least walk out on his own. “I can still walk you know.”

After a moment Liam stopped and looked down at the sick boy. “Zee come on. Just relax and let us get you home so you can take it easy.”

For a moment Zayn remained tense, but he gradually relaxed as he met Liam’s eyes and saw the sincerity that filled the brunette’s face. He let out a breath and allowed his head to naturally tuck under Liam’s jaw, closing his eyes as Liam started walking again. He let the gentle rhythm of Liam’s walk and the sound of the footsteps of the rest of the boys following lull him back to sleep.


End file.
